This document provides tips for encouraging self-feeding in children. It advises starting with hand feeding by placing small, easy to grab foods near the child to develop their grasping skills. Once grasping is established, utensils can be introduced by guiding the child's hand. It also recommends staying close during meals to monitor eating style and amount, looking out for choking vs gagging, embracing the messiness of learning, and having family meals for observation and imitation. The conclusion restates making items age appropriate and seeking advice from occupational therapists.

1. How to Encourage Children in
Self-Feeding themselves?

2. Children often show signs when they reach certain
months of age, that invariably indicates their interest in
self-feeding.
They might try to grab the spoons or other utensils their
parents are holding, or they might reach for food in the
plates or take some random objects and bring them near
the mouth.

3. When the child shows these signs, start age appropriate
encouragement in aiding them for self-feeding.
Some children with health issues might not show any
interest in self-feeding even after reaching 11 or 12
months of age, this obviously induces panic in parents.

4. The best occupational therapists team are always at
service for the worried parents assisting them with wiser
tips in motivating children in developing self-feeding
skills.
Here are some of useful tips:

5. Encourage hand feeding:
Children must be encouraged in using hands properly for
feeding themselves.
In order to expand the skill and mould it in the right way,
parents can place food items in the hair or nearby tray
where children tend to grab.
The child at first will take it with the whole fist and push it
into the mouth.

6. Then you could
make the food items
small and encourage
them to grab it with
their thumb and
forefinger instead of
using the whole fist.

7. Utensil Feeding:
After successfully working on hand feeding, you could
move the step closer to the utensil feeding by giving them
tools they can hold and handle.
Then using your hands on top of them you could imitate
the motion of taking food from the plate and moving
them straight towards the mouth.

8. Stay close during the meal times:
Don’t expect children to eat as soon as you make them
practice self feeding techniques.
You might need to stay close to the child during feeding to
monitor their style of eating, amount of food items put
into the mouth, tolerance with different types and
textures of food items etc.

9. Look out for choking:
When children begin eating on their own, there are
chances that they gag at the beginning.
It is due to the larger amount of food items put into
the mouth or the food portion might have gone to the
back of the mouth.

10. Gagging is often the reflex signal to remove excess
food from mouth or bring food into the front of the
mouth for chewing, it is perfectly fine, yet choking is
not.
Choking it dangerous as the food particles might be
blocking the airway thus requires immediate
attention.

12. Embrace the mess:
Children equipping themselves with self-feeding
techniques are going to make it really messy.
The mess extends with the floors having fallen food
items, the dress of the child having food stains etc.
Be patient, expect the mess and act accordingly by
providing them aprons or spreading cloth on the floor.

13. Have family meals:
Like all other skills and activities, feeding also modifies
with observation and imitation.
When the child is sitting with other family members,
they tend to notice how others are using their utensils
for eating and imitate it in their own ways.

15. Conclusion
These are some of the tips that really get in the way of
teaching children how to self-feed themselves.
Make sure that all the food items, utensils etc are age
appropriate.
Thus always have advice and opinions from best
occupational therapy centers in Ajman and other places
for a detailed understanding.

16. THANK YOU
PRESENTED BY,
Best occupational therapists team